Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Invests $318,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,892,774,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 33,201.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Linde by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after purchasing an additional 391,153 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $2.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $427.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,320,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,454. The company has a market cap of $205.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $454.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.19. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.